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simplest and the most used test is afforded by feeling of the wetted clay with the fingers.
Personal equation necessarily plays a large part in such determination.
Since clay ware is subjected to considerable stress in moulding, handling and drying, a high
tensile strength is desirable. The test is made by determining the stregth of specimens which
have been moulded into briquette form and very carefully dried.
The texture of clay is measured by the fineness of its grains. In rough work the per cent
passing a No. 100 sieve is determined. No numerical limit to the grain size or desired relation
between sizes has been established. Very fine grained clays free from sand are more plastic and
shrink more than those containing coarser material.
Knowledge of shrinkage both in drying and in burning is required in order to produce a
product of required size. Also the amount of shrinkage forms an index of the degree of
burning. The shrinkage in drying is dependent upon pore space within the clay and upon the
amount of mixing water. The addition of sand or ground burnt clay lowers shrinkage, increases
the porosity and facilitates drying. Fire shrinkage is dependent upon the proportion of volatile
elements, upon texture and the way that clay burns.
By porosity of clay is meant the ratio if the volume of pore space to the dry volume. Since
porosity affects the proportion of water required to make clay plastic, it will indirectly influence
air shrinkage. Large pores allow the water to evaporate more easily and consequently permit
a higher rate of drying than do small pores. In as much as the rate at which the clay may be
safely dried is of great importance in manufacturing clay products, the effect of porosity on the
rate of drying should be considered.
The temperature at which clay fuses is determined by the proportion of fluxes, texture,
homogeneity of the material, character of the flame and its mineral constitution. Owing to non-
uniformity in composition, parts of the clay body melt at different rates so that the softening
period extends over a considerable range both of time and temperature. This period is divided
into incipient vitrification and viscous vitrification.
Experiments roughly indicate that the higher the proportion of fluxes the lower the melting
point. Fine textured clays fuse more easily than those of coarser texture and the same mineral
composition. The uniformity of the clay mass determines very largely the influence of various
elements; the carbonate of lime in large lumps may cause popping when present in small
percentages, but when finely ground 15 per cent of it may be allowed in making brick or tile.
Lime combined with silicate of alumina (feldspar) forms a desirable flux. Iron in the ferrous
form, found in carbonates and in magnetite, fuses more easily than when present as ferric iron.
If the kiln atmosphere is insufficiently oxidizing in character during the early stages of burning,
the removal of carbon and sulphur will be prevented until the mass has shrunk to such an
extent as to prevent their expulsion and the oxidation of iron. When this happens, a product
with a discoloured core or swollen body is likely to result.
A determination of the fusibility of a clay is of much importance both in judging of the cost
of burning it and in estimating its refractoriness.
PR fsgu
One of the oldest building material brick continues to be a most popular and leading construction
material because of being cheap, durable and easy to handle and work with. Clay bricks are
used for building-up exterior and interior walls, partitions, piers, footings and other load
bearing structures.